TRENTON, N.J. (AP)
- New Jersey's senators urged federal scientists to determine if a cluster
of deaths among people linked to a defunct racetrack was caused by eating
mad cow-tainted meat.

The letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
follows reports of a woman's research into the deaths of nearly 20 people
who worked at or frequented the Garden State Racetrack in Cherry Hill between
1988 and 1992. All died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a brain-destroying
disorder - or neurological problems possibly caused by it.

CDC scientists will use the best available science to
respond in a timely and thorough way to the senators' letter as to whether
they will study the cases, spokeswoman Christine Pearson said Monday.

Janet Skarbek, whose mother worked at the racetrack and
had a colleague die of the disease, has been compiling cases of humans
she believes were killed by mad cow disease.

CJD comes in two known varieties: variant CJD, which
is caused by eating tainted beef, and classic CJD. In classic CJD, the
source is unknown in about 85 percent of cases, but doctors generally believe
beef is not the cause. The other classic CJD cases are blamed on an inherited
genetic mutation or use of contaminated instruments or tissue in surgery.

According to government estimates, CJD accounts for about
300 deaths a year in the United States - all of them believed to be of
the classic variety. Skarbek said the number of cases linked to the track
are many times what would be expected for classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

"I think it's wonderful that they're getting involved,"
Skarbek said of the senators.